Seven Seeds was established in 2007 by Bridge and Mark, who had run pioneering coffee businesses since 2001 and wanted coffee that was “exceptional and transparent in a culture open to everyone”. The name comes from the seven coffee seeds Baba Budan is said to have smuggled out of Yemen into India in the 17th century. The company sources, roasts, wholesales, brews and retails coffee under the line “Transparent. Exceptional. Honest.”, and since 2018 it has disclosed the farmgate price it pays producers for its single origins and its blends, with a transparency report linked from each coffee and an annual impact report.

The Carlton café, a navy-fronted warehouse in the university district, was the original roastery and café. It seats close to a hundred, takes no bookings, serves an all-day menu with vegetarian and vegan options, is wheelchair accessible, and fills customers’ own containers with House Blend or F.Bomb Filter Blend. Roasting outgrew the space and moved to a dedicated roastery in Fairfield in 2017, which does not serve coffee but hands over online orders for collection.

Brother Baba Budan is the first city location, “an OG in the Melbourne coffee scene”, with a rotating cabinet of toasted sandwiches, cakes and pastries. Traveller, a few laneways away, is a small room with bench seating along one wall and a couple of stools outside, part Italian eatery, part Airstream caravan. Suburbia Bakery, a four-minute walk from the roastery, is the newest venue, with fresh rolls, seasonal salads, breakfast and pastries baked on site. Every venue sells packaged beans, cold filter casks, drip bags, Fly High Chai and Birdsnake chocolate.

The current retail range is listed below with the roaster’s own tasting notes; Seven Seeds keeps its past seasonal lots listed as sold out, so they appear there too.

Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: Seven Seeds